The month of December is one of my favourite times to head out for a stream fish in West and South Gippsland.
The daylight hours are in our favour, the streams are flowing nicely after the spring rain, hatchings of insects are occurring more due to the increased humidity in the air, trout have a good appetite to put condition on over summer and wading the streams is ever so relaxing and cooling as the sun starts to pack a punch. These streams are a great place to take the family over the Christmas break.
The Latrobe River is fishing really well at the moment. Jim of Endeavour Hills caught some beautiful rainbows between 600g and 1kg on Powerbait near where the Loch River flows into the Latrobe River.
He fished the baits off the bottom using a basic running sinker to a swivel with a leader tied to a size 4 long shank hook.
Whilst getting this report I saw another angler catch and release a decent sized crayfish on worm fished off the bottom targeting trout. This is something I have never seen before in all my years fishing these streams.
Minnow styled floating hardbodied lures like the Rapala F5, F3 or Juro Strike-Pro range are terrific lures for stream trout, as are spinner bladed lures like the Celta or the larger Crown Seal Lure.
Stream flows may still be quite strong so for those anglers keen to play around with their fly gear.
Nymphs are still the way to go but as the flows slow down over summer, dry flies are a sure bet to hook into a trout. Watch for stormy afternoons as this brings out insects and the fish.
A must for any angler hitting the streams this summer, grab yourself a pair of brown polaroids. It is amazing how these glasses change your approach to fishing these streams. A reminder too that the blackfish season reopens at the end of this month.
The editor has been very kind in allowing me to finish this month’s report off with something special.
My partner Cate and I have been together for just over five years and she is an amazing and beautiful girl. Adding to this, she has been extremely accommodating to my passion/obsession for fishing.
Since we have been together, Cate has grown to love her fishing and accompanies me on many of my fishing adventures.
I’m a very lucky man to have someone like Cate in my life, I thought what better opportunity to propose than in Victoria’s best fishing magazine.
So Cate, will you marry me?
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Cate with a beautiful stream brown taken on a Crown Seal Lure in the Toorongo River around midday. The beauty about stream trout fishing is that they’ll bite all day.
